{"id":38837,"date":"2019-04-05T07:23:36","date_gmt":"2019-04-05T07:23:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=38837"},"modified":"2019-04-05T07:23:36","modified_gmt":"2019-04-05T07:23:36","slug":"saudi-arabia-reopens-consulate-in-iraq-pledges-1bn-in-aid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=38837","title":{"rendered":"Saudi Arabia reopens consulate in Iraq, pledges $1bn in aid"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Saudi Arabia<\/a> has reopened a consulate in Baghdad for the first time in nearly 30 years and announced a one billion dollars\u00a0aid package for Iraq.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The diplomatic mission in Iraqi capital’s heavily fortified Green Zone\u00a0was inaugurated on Thursday at a ceremony,<\/span>\u00a0during which Iraq<\/a>‘s Foreign Minister Mohamed Alhakim raised a green Saudi flag over the building.<\/p>\n

The reopening of the consulate, which will issue visas to Iraqis, marked a “new phase” in relations between Riyadh and Baghdad, said\u00a0Majid bin Abdullah al-Qasabi,<\/span> <\/span> Saudi Arabia’s trade minister.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

“There’s no doubt that this exchange, this discussion, is a two-way street that will strengthen these ties,” Qasabi told reporters, wrapping up a two-day visit.<\/p>\n

Saudi Arabia would provide Iraq with one billion dollars in loans for development projects, said Qasabi, plus $500m to boost exports and a gift of a 100,000-seat sports stadium to be built on Baghdad’s outskirts.<\/span><\/p>\n

Saudi Arabia cut ties with Iraq when the latter invaded\u00a0Kuwait<\/a>\u00a0in 1990.<\/p>\n

Diplomatic relations resumed in 2015 when Riyadh sent an ambassador to Baghdad, and improved with the then-Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir’s visit in 2017, the first by a Saudi foreign minister since 1990.<\/p>\n

But consular services remained suspended and Iraqis applying for visas had to go through the Saudi embassy in neighbouring Jordan<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“Today, our brothers in Iraq can acquire a visa in Baghdad directly, without having to suffer a trip abroad,” Qasabi said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Qasabi said three more consulates were expected to open in Iraqi cities.<\/p>\n

\n
\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Qasabi said Saudi Arabia would provide Iraq with one billion dollars [The Presidency of the Republic of Iraq Office\/Handout via Reuters]<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The Saudi delegation met Iraq’s prime minister, Adel Abdul-Mahdi, and held talks with Iraqi businessmen and senior Iraqi officials towards boosting relations between the two countries.<\/p>\n

Ahmad Sahhaf, spokesman for Iraq’s foreign ministry, said the consulate’s reopening on Thursday “will reflect positively on pilgrims and investors”.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sahhaf told The Associated Press news agency that work was also under way to reopen border crossings between the two neighbours.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Iraq is caught in a tug-of-war over influence pitting Iran<\/a> against the United States<\/a> and Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n

Riyadh is seeking closer ties to Iraq to counter Iran’s growing influence in the region, while Baghdad seeks to attract Saudi investments to spur economic growth.<\/p>\n

Abdul-Mahdi is visiting Iran on Saturday and plans to visit Saudi Arabia later this month, during which a number of trade agreements are expected to be signed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Saudi Arabia has reopened a consulate in Baghdad for the first time in nearly 30 years and announced a one billion dollars\u00a0aid package for Iraq.\u00a0 The diplomatic mission in Iraqi capital’s heavily fortified Green Zone\u00a0was inaugurated on Thursday at a ceremony,\u00a0during which Iraq’s Foreign Minister Mohamed Alhakim raised a green Saudi flag over the building.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":38838,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38837","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle_east_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38837","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=38837"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38837\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/38838"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=38837"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=38837"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=38837"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}